Games finalist Anaso lives to fight another day

Anaso Jobodwana’s dream Olympic debut came to an end┬á in London on Thursday night as sprint legend Usain Bolt missed his own Olympic 200m record by just 0.02 seconds.

Going into the championships, the United States-based youngster was hoping for a personal best and just possibly a place in the final.

He will leave London having achieved both, after his 20.27sec run in the sem-finals and then a dream race against Jamaican Bolt in the final.

Bolt led a Jamaican 1-2-3 medal closure, clocking 19.32 as Yohann Blake and Warren Weir finished with a season-best 19.44 and personal best 19.84 respectively.

Jobodwana had to be content with a 20.69 but was brutally frank in his post-race assessment. “No excuses at all but my body just didn’t seem to be responding today and I need to do more work.

“Man this was a completely different race to the semi-finals. These guys just upped their game and were in a different class. It was just awesome being in the final and part of the race.”

Introduced to the crowd before the race, Jobodwana pulled off a plucky imitation of Bolt’s famous bow-pulling stunt.

“The guys at the holding camp in St Mary’s told me to do that,” he grinned, “but I guess mine flopped a bit.”

Drawn in the outside lane nine, Jobodwana was second slowest in terms of season bests with his 20.27 and he can be forgiven for any nerves although he claimed not to have been affected.

“No, I was quite cool in the call-room, I just focused on what I had to do.”

Certainly after this rousing performance he can turn all his attention to what now seems a faraway 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. Because come the next Olympiad Jobodwana will be 24-years-old and a totally new proposition.